Crowds lined the riverwalk at 7 a.m. Sunday as the first horn went off for the Chicago River Swim. The event, featuring 263 selected swimmers, marked the first open-water swimming event in the Chicago River in 98 years.
Swimmers raised a total of $150,000 for ALS research at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and swim education programs, according to a news release.
Illinois-based non-profit A Long Swim organized the race as part of its mission to raise funds for ALS research by staging large-scale open water swimming events. Marathon swimmer Doug McConnell founded A Long Swim in 2011 with his sister after losing his father to ALS. Years later, his sister also died from the disease.
Since its founding, the nonprofit has generated more than $400,000 in support of research work at NU’s Ozdinler Lab. Spearheaded by Feinberg Prof. Hande Ozdinler, the lab was established in 2009 as the second Les Turner ALS Center at Feinberg.
After visiting the lab, Ozdinler said McConnell asked her in 2019 to be the director of science at A Long Swim, an offer she accepted. Now, funds from the organization’s events go directly to helping the lab develop groundbreaking research and bring in new faculty.
“The first time we met, (McConnell) looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’m going to help you,’” Ozdinler said.
Since beginning her partnership with A Long Swim, Ozdinler said her lab has made many advancements in ALS research.
One of her biggest projects has been a collaboration with chemistry Prof. Richard Silverman, developing an experimental drug that helps prevent early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, like protein clumping and neuron degeneration.
“I don’t think there’s any one person in this world who doesn’t know of anyone with a neurodegenerative disease,” Ozdinler said. “You need seed money to support initial phases of research, and that’s what A Long Swim wants to accomplish.”
Swimmers at the Chicago River Swim participated in either a one-mile or two-mile course. One-milers were required to raise at least $1,250, and two-milers were required to raise at least $1,750.
Around 300 staff members helped to make the event run smoothly, McConnell said. Compared to other A Long Swim events, he said Sunday’s event was “considerably more complicated” to organize.
The organization initially planned the event for last year, but the swim was moved to Lake Michigan after the city denied a permit due to unsafe conditions for swimming.
Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, said teams from the University of Illinois Chicago and Current, a water innovation company, tested the water quality before and during the event to ensure safety.
Frisbie said the event was a testament to decades of hard work being done by her organization to revitalize the Chicago River.
“People believe things that they see,” Frisbie said. “When you see people swimming in the water this way, you understand that this river is clean, it’s healthy, it’s accessible and that we need to work together to make sure this kind of thing can happen all the time.”
Paul Sommer came from Indiana to participate in the swim. Sommer raised over $35,000, making him the event’s top individual fundraiser.
After he first registered for the river swim, his brother was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative disease similar to ALS. He said his brother’s diagnosis motivated him to fundraise.
Sommer, 64, said he’s been competing in triathlons and Ironman competitions for 20 years.
“You’re always nervous, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “The water was perfect, and it was just so different swimming and looking at buildings.”
McConnell said he hopes the river swim can join the list of successful Chicago events like the Chicago Marathon and Bike the Drive.
“Chicago is a place that does big events really well,” McConnell said. “We’d like to make this an annual event and really make it a major fundraiser for Northwestern and give it a real place in the open-water swimming world.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the amount of money A Long Swim has donated to NU’s Ozdinler Lab. The Daily regrets this error.
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